Recycle Bin

[kenand]

After restarting my pc after a little clean up all the icons are missing from the desktop. i can access all my programs through the windows task manager but cannot find or open the recycle bin to find the deleted files. Is there a line you can type in using the windows task manager to allow me to open the recycle bin. Any help would be gratefully received.
I am using windows XP.

 

[stantley]

Show hidden files and folders and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files'.

Go to C:\RECYCLER and it's subdirectory and you see the files in the recycle bin.

You can right-click on a file to restore or delete to delete permanently.

 

[kenand]

Thank you for your help but unfortunately my pc wont open windows explorer or the recycle bin by typing in at the windows task manager. I have tried to restore to an earlier point but all the restore points before this happened have also gone. should i bite the bullet and reinstall windows?

 

[stantley]

What you're describing could very well be the result of a virus. Post a HijackThis log on the Malware Removal forum just to make sure.

Go to this site http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/hijackthis.php?page=download.

Click on 'Download HijackThis Installer'.

*Save HJTInstall.exe to your desktop, or to the location where you normally download.
*Doubleclick on HJTInstall.exe.
*Click on Install.
*By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis.
*Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis.
*Click on the 'Do a system scan and save a logfile button'. It will scan and the log will open in notepad.
*Click Save to save the log file.
*Click on 'Edit > Select All' then click on 'Edit > Copy' (or Ctrl-C) to copy the entire contents of the log.
*Start a new thread and Paste (or Ctrl-V) the log.

*DO NOT have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless or even required.